Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to figure out your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

It's a good idea to estimate when you can plant penstemon by reviewing the USDA zone info for Lawrence.

Planting Calendar for Penstemon

Frost tolerance for penstemon:	Tolerant of some frost.
When to plant:	Up to 5 weeks before last frost.

Penstemon are moderately cold tolerant which tells us that you can start planting them earlier than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant penstemon in Lawrence is February. However, you really should wait until March if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant penstemon and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your penstemon may not have a chance to fully mature. Starting your penstemon indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on April 15 in Lawrence. You should expect an average low temperature of -10°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Lawrence is not always accurate the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Lawrence you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so be sure to be ready to protect your penstemon in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Lawrence

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-10°F
Highest Expected Low	-5°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -10°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -5°F.

Plants to Grow in Lawrence

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Lawrence.